November 21, 2006

It appears (NYTimes, registration required) that Bangalore is eager to follow in the footsteps of Mumbai (Bombay), Chennai (Madras) and Kolkata (Calcutta). What next, are we going to rename Hyderabad to Bhagyanagaram?

The renaming fad in India is getting out of hand. Do we really need the original names of our cities to feel that they are our cities? We have perfectly serviceable (if somewhat Anglicized) names for cities that have been in use for decades or more and now we feel the reason to rename them and confuse the heck out of everyone.

Don’t even get me started on renaming airports after the favorite local politician/historical figure of the day (witness Hyderabad’s own airport name changes or that of Bombay’s international terminal)